He Said, She Said

I always try to smooch Brendan's cheeks, and he will say "Ahhh no klissing me!" with a big smile on his face.  Well, how can I not kliss you when you mispronounce it like that?

We went to JP's Winter Track banquet, and when he received his award, the head coach described him as being the fastest 300m runner.  Afterwords, I congratulated him, and said I didn't know he was the best 300m runner on the team.  He said "I'm not, but the fastest kid wasn't at the banquet, so I was the fastest there!"

On Monday, the kids asked what was for dinner when I picked them up from school (not unlike every day) and I said tacos.  Xander asked "Why are we having tacos on the Feast of the Annunciation??" and I said "Because the Angel tacoed to Mary and told her she was pregnant with Jesus, and then Mary said Queso?"  Only Maggie laughed.

Phil wanted to take me out for dinner and ice cream to celebrate the feast day so we fed the kids and put the little ones to bed and were getting ready to head out when Maggie asked "Where are you two going?" and I said "To do some errands" and she said "I KNOW THAT MEANS YOU'RE GOING ON A DATE!!"  Busted.

I got a speeding ticket.  I know, ugh.  It was the first one in my life, and Andrew and Eamon were in the car with me.  The cop was on a motorcycle and didn't have a laptop to look up my history and see that I've never gotten a ticket before, so he gave me one and said I could appeal it.  I was upset, and drove away saying "I can't believe he gave me a ticket!  I should have only gotten a warning!  That place is a speed trap!  The speed limit drops from 40 mph to 30 mph once you cross the city line!  I can't believe he gave me a ticket!!"  Andrew just looks at me and goes "Well, there are consequences in life."

I was holding Brendan and we were just playing around, when it was time to hand him off to Phil for bed time.  He reached back out for me and said "Wait!  You need me!".  I love when kids confuse pronouns like that.

I went to a new group exercise class, and this nice older gentleman was helping me get set up with a mat and weights, knowing it was my first time at this class.  He told me to get two sets of weights, 8 pounders and 5 pounders.  I'm actually pretty strong (thanks ice-cream scooping and shotput throwing  and baby holding muscles) so I only used the eights throughout the class.  At the end of the class, he said to me with a smile "You didn't need no stinkin' fives!"

Declan was sick this weekend with a fever, and he was convinced that he got sick because of the dinner I made him on Thursday night.  I honestly couldn't remember what we ate that night, so I asked him and he said "You know...the meat one in a roll...that smells like Dad when he comes home from a run?"  (it was steak subs...and sorry Phil!)

Thoughts on Being Off Instagram for Lent

But Colleen, Lent isn't even halfway over yet!

I know, I know, BUT I did give up Instagram for Lent last year as well, so I think I'm qualified to speak on the subject.

Well, that's never stopped you before.

True.

So anyway, here's seven thoughts on what a social media fast has made me realize (linking up with Kelly!)

1)

Social media allows us to be selfish friends.

It's true, isn't it?  We can get on and post what we're doing and assume everyone wants to know, but then can get back off without checking in on any of our "friends".  Then we can log back on to see how many likes or comments we got because obviously, that matters.  Imagine if you had a friend in your life who only talked about themselves, wanted you to affirm her, and then never asked about what was going on in your life.  Would you like to be around her?  Nope, she would be a selfish person in your mind.  Yet, that's what we all do on social media.  Social media is more about portraying our story and peeking in on other's lives than curating true friendships.  True friendships exist outside social media.

Spotlight on Eamon

{Warning - mushy mom post ahead.  I never want to come across as bragging about my kids, and trust me, they all have things I don't want the world to know about them, but every once in a while, I need to record some of their personal achievements.  This blog is called Martin Family Moments, and I want to remember our best moments.  Thanks for understanding!}

Oh my gosh y'all, Eamon is so adorably cute and nice and fun and holy right now.  (If anyone knows how to freeze a 12 year old boy, send instructions STAT!)  This week, Eamon's basketball team won the Boys C Championship.  Boys C is grades 4-6, and Eamon is in grade 6, and a true leader on the team.

Eamon is 2nd from left

I didn't know until this year, that he shoots hoops every morning for half an hour before school (in extended care) to work on his shot.  And he can almost always be found with a basketball in his hand.  He brings it to school, he brings it home from school, he brings it inside to protect it from the elements...just trust me when I say the ball is stuck to his hand. 

St. Patty's Day Half Marathon Recap

Another half-marathon in the books, and boy are my legs tired!  That is it folks, no more long races for me, I'm officially retiring.  But first, let's look back on the weekend...

I made these Irish flag cookies for the kids on Saturday night after our carbo-loaded meal of pasta and meatballs and garlic bread.  As a family, we give up sweets for lent, but we can eat them after the vigil Mass on Saturday through Sunday night.  So we are ready for some yummy desserts each weekend!  These fit the bill.

On Sunday morning, the littles awoke to a couple of gifts from the leprechauns...

Lucky Charms!

Green Milk!

Those silly leprechauns!  And then we taught them that if you're not wearing green on St. Patty's Day, you have to get pinched! 

 

7QT: Happy (Almost) St. Patty's Day!

TGIF and linking up with Kelly...

1)

I can not believe the half-marathon is Sunday!!  I don't want to run it!  I watched this video of the race course, and it made me realize just how long 13.1 miles is!

I'm nervous about it, and deep down I want to finish under 2 hours but I'm also trying to take the pressure off myself by just saying "Let's have fun and just finish whenever!"  Phil is not nervous at all, and we are definitely more prepared in terms of training than ever, but all that training hasn't seemed to increase my speed or lower my weight, both things I wished would have happened before the race.  It's just so much easier to run at ten pounds lighter than what I'm at.  Oh well, I'm in the 40 year old category now, so maybe everyone will be a little slower too :)

2)

Check out my new kicks for the race!

They arrived on Wednesday, and I've been wearing them non-stop to make sure they will be fine for the race.  So far so good.

Taper Week

I said to Phil yesterday that it was Taper Week, and he was like "What does that mean?"  He never knew that was a thing!  And he's run a bunch of races!  But that's ok because I didn't know what cadence was until a couple of weeks ago when my new watch started tracking it for me.  

So for those of you also not in the running know...

In the context of sports, tapering refers to the practice of reducing exercise in the days just before an important competition. Tapering is customary in many endurance sports, such as long-distance running and swimming. ... The tapering period frequently lasts as much as a week or more.

and

Cadence is how many steps you take per minute.  Your height, weight, leg and stride length and running ability will determine your optimal cadence. Everyday runners generally fall between 160-170 steps per minute, while elite runners strike the ground around 180 steps per minute or higher—with some getting above 200 at their fastest speeds.

So, we are in Taper Week.  That means we are running about 60% of our mileage this week, taking two full rest days before the half-marathon on Sunday, and trying to hydrate and get a lot of nutrients in.  I've been baking superhero muffins and blending beet smoothies from this cookbook, and planning on eating spaghetti and meatballs on Sat night.  Yum!  

Partial Training Plan